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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28274469">My Blood on Their Sneakers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyc0rpse/pseuds/honeyc0rpse'>honeyc0rpse</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lemon Demon (Musician), Spirit Phone - Lemon Demon (Album), Touch-Tone Telephone - Lemon Demon (Song)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, CWs in notes, Christmas Eve, M/M, Other, writing this almost made me cry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:56:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,463</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28274469</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyc0rpse/pseuds/honeyc0rpse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You know that end bit of Cabinet Man where it's Christmas Eve? Yeah…</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Touch Tone Telephone/Cabinet Man</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>My Blood on Their Sneakers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I tried putting a lack of detailed descriptors and more basic personality so it’s a lot easier to attach individual ocs onto :] this isn’t meant for anyone’s ocs in particular but Cabby does have a humanoid form in this + a machine form simultaneously (and uses he/it pronouns while Telly uses he/him)<br/>MAJOR cw for gore, blood, death, organs, and robot harm<br/>also HOLY SHIT this is edgy</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>2:38 AM, 23 DEC</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, Cabby,” Telly placed his hand onto the other’s shoulder, “You okay?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hm? Yeah! I’d say I’m fine,” the humanoid replied with a wheeze. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve kept on panting while you’ve spoken for these past couple of hours. It’s worrying. Really, really worrying.” Telly placed his other hand on Cabby’s other shoulder, feeling a light vibration echo throughout it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ahhhhh! You’re talking about my breathing!” it beeped before dying down into a flatter tone. “The arcade’s been getting less and less people. So, less people equals less coins which makes it hard for me to breathe.” He frowned. “It sucks! It really does suck. It sucks a lot.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, the recent emergence of handheld gaming consoles could be a reason why. You’ve heard of them, right?—they’re essentially small boxes that can play games on them. You can even switch out a cartridge and purchase different games to play.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s quite a shame. I mean, good for them! But it’s been getting lonely, Telly. Super lonely. You’re the only one I can talk to!” The inside of its chest hummed. “Speaking of lonely, I think this place’s gonna be closed for…one? Two days? Yep, two days! You’ll be able to stay longer and it’ll be great!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uhm…Cabby…about that…I’m sorry, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to arrive earlier. I’ve got some sighting locations to check out tomorrow and I just can’t miss them. Again, I do apologize.” He leaned in forward and left a gentle kiss on Cabby’s forehead. It buzzed in euphoria and began to play a short and sweet 8-bit melody from the machine. He held Telly close to him and secured the hug with the wires attached to his back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alriiiiiight, alright. I can wait!” It held Telly in a close embrace before it soon let go. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See you later—oh, and please don’t mess around too much—I don’t want to try and fix you again.” Telly waved and made his way out of the arcade, leaving one thing behind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His glasses. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>10:29 PM, 24 DEC</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Telly walked carefully through the almost barren streets—everyone else most likely gathered together for celebrations. Telly never had any family to call his own, so he took no issue with spending it like many other nights; inside a dingy arcade with the anomaly that called itself Cabinet Man. He was quite a strange character, being both part human and part machine. Not just machine, though, but part arcade cabinet. Telly spent hours upon hours discovering more and more about the one he’d now call his one true love. Its mechanisms, its psyche, its personality, and so on; truly, he was a one of a kind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Telly held a gift in his hand—a small wrapped box that contained a hefty amount of (most likely stolen) arcade tokens and a hand-me-down console he purchased from a yard sale. It wasn’t a big gift or anything of the sort, but he prayed that it would hold some sort of sentimental value. Noticing that the entrance door of the arcade was already opened, he gripped the handle with his free hand and began to ramble, not taking in the scene around him—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gosh, I’m really, truly sorry for arriving so late, Cabby. I’ve spent all day in a haze because I lost my glasses and all the research I did lead up to nothing. I hope you forgive me from the bottom of your warm, beeping heart.” He looked up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh, God.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This wasn’t what he was expecting whatsoever. Not at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The arcade machine, now bashed, bleeding, and overlayed with coats of neon spray paint, lay on its side. Severed wires and such stuck out from the broken monitor and bodily fluids oozed from the coin drawer, leaking onto the floor and soaking into the carpet. Three figures appeared adjacent to the machine—two lay on the floor with their remaining organs ripped through their flesh and the other standing in front of them, its back facing Telly and showing an array of broken wires, dented and bleeding limbs, and so on. The two on the floor squirmed and trembled for breath but soon went motionless. Soon enough, it collapsed as well. Telly took two heavy steps towards Cabby, with the door shutting behind him. His hands sweated terribly and shook violently while they tried their best to keep hold of the box. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cabby peered itself to Telly’s general direction, but what he saw could only be described as gruesome. A good portion of his face was pulled clean off, showing a blend of what was human and broken machinery bashed well into it. To say he bled heavily would be an understatement; it dripped down also every surface on him. Part of his “brain” (a blend of its human brain with the half-broken motherboard) seeped from an open wound.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Telly dropped the gift, letting the coins jingle around as it fell. He stood, completely frozen in posture minus his intense shaking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“C…Cabby…” the words slipped out his mouth almost instinctively. Cabby stood up, though with incredible difficulty. Slowly, he plunged several slow and heavy steps to bring himself closer to Telly. Telly rubbed his eyes and looked back at Cabby, who was inching towards him. “Cabby…are…are you okay?! Please, oh my God, tell me you’re f-fine. I-I can try fixing you up later, and you’ll be…fine! Please…please answer me.” Telly’s voice quivered and trembled with every word he spoke. Cabby, now only a foot or two away from his, falls over once again, struggling to find the strength to come back up. Its mouth open and it did behind to speak, but it was all nonsense jumbled up into a string up numbers that sputtered out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Telly crouched down next to him, grabbing it by its elbows in a terrible attempt to pull him up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“L-look, Cabby…I can go to the janitor’s closet and get you s-some stuff to fix you up with. Would that be o-okay with you?” His eyes welled up with tears that refused to drip down. Cabby stared back at him in a silent and empty stare. Shaking heavily, Cabby put all its weight onto Telly and had its arms limply through against his back. “O-oh…you’d rather have me stay here with you? That’s alright—I’ll stay. If it makes you feel better.” Telly embraced Cabby as well, tightly holding onto it with his eyes closed before he heard a </span>
  <em>
    <span>zap.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Telly’s eyes soon open to find the source of the noise: Cabby’s brain was sparking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s not good. Not at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cabby…your head…” Telly mumbled. It didn’t reply, instead only buzzing loudly from its chest area. “Don’t worry. Please. I mean—it’s improbable that you’re not going to stress out, but I’m here. I’ll be here for as long as you need me here.” The loud mechanical hum still whirred, but it now stemmed from somewhere other than his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His back. One of the remaining cables on his back shifted position, whacking the gift Telly left on the ground. The cable raved and slid around before creeping upon Telly’s back, shooting him and directly in the chest and going so far as to puncture Cabby, too. Tears poured out of Telly’s eyes and blood from his mouth. His pupils contracted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“C-C-Cabby…I…holy shit…oh…oh my God. I…what did you do…” he chocked out in between sobs. “Plleeeeeassee…Cabby. Cabby. I—holy shit. I—I—I don’t…think I can—” Telly went on and on, with random phrases stringing together to barely held sentences. Cabby’s gaze shifted from Telly to the box and back to him. In a breaking, almost robotic tone it muttered:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Telly…yooouuuuuuuu…” his voice distorted near the end, and his eyes closed before he could finish speaking. Its arms went limp in Telly’s clutch, and the cable that struck between the two lay flat between the matching holes in their chests. Telly, gasping for air, and still not processing the situation fully, fell over with Cabby tight in his arms. His eyelids fluttered—fading in and out of being barely conscious. His blood managed to stain his coat and the area below him, but he could hardly see at this point in time. Everything was blurry—a dizziful mesh of colors that blended and morphed within each other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cabbbyyyyy…” his voice drew out, coughing repeatedly, “IIIIII………” Telly choked, trying to find the words to say before it was too late. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sirens rang from the distance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“…Looovvveeeeeeeeee……” The tears that streamed down his face dripped before quickly drying up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Telly’s head sunk and his breathing soon came to a close. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Too late.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i am so fucking sorry /gen<br/>fun fact i made myself nauseous multiple times while writing this and i just could not fucking edit atm im sorry</p></blockquote></div></div>
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